Rees Morrison discusses the challenge of using industry benchmarks as a yardstick for performance and productivity and assesses their value to in-house legal teams
For many general counsel, the ability to compare their department to basic benchmark metrics has much value. They may need to show that they steward the company’s resources soundly, such as having below average total legal spend as a percentage of revenue, or that they actually do need to hire another lawyer, since their lawyers per billion pounds of turnover is low. Good benchmark data can also point to the operational improvements worth pursuing, such as tighter control over external counsel.
